2 Chronicles 28
New American Standard Bible
Ahaz Succeeds Jotham in Judah
28 (A)Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. (B)He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done. 2 (C)But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also (D)made cast metal images for the Baals. 3 Furthermore, (E)he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and (F)burned his sons in fire, (G)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from the sons of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and (H)burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Judah Is Invaded
5 Therefore (I)the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram; and they [a]defeated him and carried from him a great number of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with heavy casualties. 6 For (J)Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.
8 (K)The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of (L)their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also [b]took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and (M)he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, (N)was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage (O)which has even reached heaven. 10 Now you are proposing to (P)subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the Lord your God? 11 Now then, listen to me and return the captives (Q)whom you captured from your brothers, (R)for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.” 12 Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—rose up against those who were coming from the battle, 13 and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly. 15 Then (S)the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and (T)gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, (U)the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.
Compromise with Assyria
16 (V)At that time King Ahaz sent word to the [c]kings of Assyria for help. 17 (W)For the Edomites had come again and attacked Judah, and led away captives. 18 (X)The Philistines had also invaded the cities of the [d]lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they had settled there. 19 For the Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of (Y)Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord. 20 So (Z)Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21 (AA)Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.
22 Now during the time of his distress, this same King Ahaz (AB)became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 (AC)For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had [e]defeated him, and said, “(AD)Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the [f]downfall of him and all Israel. 24 Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he (AE)cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he (AF)closed the doors of the house of the Lord, and (AG)made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger. 26 (AH)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 (AI)So Ahaz [g]lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of (AJ)Israel; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 28:5 Lit struck
- 2 Chronicles 28:8 Lit plundered
- 2 Chronicles 28:16 Ancient versions king
- 2 Chronicles 28:18 Heb shephelah
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 Lit struck
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 Lit stumbling
- 2 Chronicles 28:27 I.e., died
2 Chronicles 28
New Living Translation
Ahaz Rules in Judah
28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestor David had done. 2 Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel. He cast metal images for the worship of Baal. 3 He offered sacrifices in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire.[a] In this way, he followed the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.
5 Because of all this, the Lord his God allowed the king of Aram to defeat Ahaz and to exile large numbers of his people to Damascus. The armies of the king of Israel also defeated Ahaz and inflicted many casualties on his army. 6 In a single day Pekah son of Remaliah, Israel’s king, killed 120,000 of Judah’s troops, all of them experienced warriors, because they had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 7 Then Zicri, a warrior from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king’s son; Azrikam, the king’s palace commander; and Elkanah, the king’s second-in-command. 8 The armies of Israel captured 200,000 women and children from Judah and seized tremendous amounts of plunder, which they took back to Samaria.
9 But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there in Samaria when the army of Israel returned home. He went out to meet them and said, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and let you defeat them. But you have gone too far, killing them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed. 10 And now you are planning to make slaves of these people from Judah and Jerusalem. What about your own sins against the Lord your God? 11 Listen to me and return these prisoners you have taken, for they are your own relatives. Watch out, because now the Lord’s fierce anger has been turned against you!”
12 Then some of the leaders of Israel[b]—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—agreed with this and confronted the men returning from battle. 13 “You must not bring the prisoners here!” they declared. “We cannot afford to add to our sins and guilt. Our guilt is already great, and the Lord’s fierce anger is already turned against Israel.”
14 So the warriors released the prisoners and handed over the plunder in the sight of the leaders and all the people. 15 Then the four men just mentioned by name came forward and distributed clothes from the plunder to the prisoners who were naked. They provided clothing and sandals to wear, gave them enough food and drink, and dressed their wounds with olive oil. They put those who were weak on donkeys and took all the prisoners back to their own people in Jericho, the city of palms. Then they returned to Samaria.
Ahaz Closes the Temple
16 At that time King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria for help. 17 The armies of Edom had again invaded Judah and taken captives. 18 And the Philistines had raided towns located in the foothills of Judah[c] and in the Negev of Judah. They had already captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. 19 The Lord was humbling Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah,[d] for he had encouraged his people to sin and had been utterly unfaithful to the Lord.
20 So when King Tiglath-pileser[e] of Assyria arrived, he attacked Ahaz instead of helping him. 21 Ahaz took valuable items from the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, and from the homes of his officials and gave them to the king of Assyria as tribute. But this did not help him.
22 Even during this time of trouble, King Ahaz continued to reject the Lord. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, for he said, “Since these gods helped the kings of Aram, they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them.” But instead, they led to his ruin and the ruin of all Judah.
24 The king took the various articles from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s Temple so that no one could worship there, and he set up altars to pagan gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 He made pagan shrines in all the towns of Judah for offering sacrifices to other gods. In this way, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
26 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign and everything he did, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 When Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal cemetery of the kings of Judah. Then his son Hezekiah became the next king.
Footnotes
- 28:3 Or even making his sons pass through the fire.
- 28:12 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 28:18 Hebrew the Shephelah.
- 28:19 Masoretic Text reads of Israel; also in 28:23, 27. The author of Chronicles sees Judah as representative of the true Israel. (Some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version read of Judah.)
- 28:20 Hebrew Tilgath-pilneser, a variant spelling of Tiglath-pileser.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
